Federalism and the Heimat Idea in Imperial Germany

Abstract

Federalism, as a mainstay of Germany’s political and constitutional order, was adopted with enthusiasm in 1871. It has commonly and correctly been analysed by scholars as a governing mechanism to link local and national levels of politics. Consequently, we know quite a lot about how federalism worked in practice, and how it fitted within German constitutional law tradition. In addition, it is often remarked that federalism, as a political system that linked the local with the national, accommodated the historical experiences of the various states that made the German Empire. But on this topic, in fact, we know very little, namely on the ways in which federalism, as a political system, linked with post-1871 values and beliefs about the place of local and regional identity within the nation. It is this link that interests me in this chapter. What were the relations in the German Empire (1871–1918) between federalism as a political idea and federalism as a reflection of local and national identities? By accepting federalism as a political system, how did Germans negotiate the new 1871 realities of localness and nationhood? Differently put, it is often mentioned that federalism in 1871 reflected traditions and values. But, exactly, which values, and how did they connect to the political system? By thinking about these questions I hope to articulate some of the historical problems posed by federalism to scholars of Germany. My attempt is to link federalism, as a political system that reconciled local and national identity, with the Heimat idea, as a symbolic representation whose function was similar.